The Chronicles of a Maverick Mechanic
by FeatheryNotes
Summary: Arabella had been a student at the academy long before Speed discovered his family, and before Zile had shown his bad side. She was there before X was a "jerk" and before Conner had a single friend, and she became perfectly happy as the outsider she was until a certain racer came to campus looking for a mechanic.


The first thing I was aware of was the smell of burnt metal & tire, and how dark it was. Fear surged through me, I shot upright in my panic and hit my head against the roof of the car. Ow...W-..Wait, what car? I don't have a car. What is going…? I tried to look around myself but everything was so black was there light here at all? I thought maybe I could just search the place with my hands, but all I found were crumpled papers, and maybe what might have been an apple core, at one point. Oh God, where am I? My heart scattered around in my chest a bit as I searched the dark for answers.

I am ok...right? Yes, yes I'm completely fine. I need...I need to stay calm. I need to not freak out. It's fine. _I'm_ fine. All I have to do is stay calm, and I'll get out of here. Wherever _here_ is, and no matte-

I felt the whole car move away from me as it threw itself forward, the force of it shoving my head onto something horrible and solid; maybe it was the front seat, who cares, all I knew right then was how much it hurt. It didn't make sense that my brain could just _seethe_ in this much pain. I couldn't even jerk back, or wrap my hands around the damage like a normal human being, I just laid there trying to process what was going on...Did it get darker in here? Part of me wanted to know how it could get darker than the complete absence of light, but the rest of me was suddenly so tired. I tried to move but- but I just couldn't, and it was only then I became aware of the large, heavy..._thing_ pinning me. Oh God am I stuck. What is happening? Why Can't I remember anything?!

Alright never mind the thing about me being ok. I'm not ok. My temples are beating as fast as my heart and I'm in a car I've never seen before in my life and _I'm stuck inside of it_. I don't want to die somewhere that smells like this. I don't want to die at all. My lungs started hurting from the smoke that kept creeping up around me, and I knew whatever fire it came from must've gotten closer; This terrified me, and it felt so surreal to freak out this hard and still be so exhausted. _I'm so tired_, and it's so dark here that I can't even tell when my eyes are closed and when they aren't. I can't fall asleep yet, I'll die if I do. I can't fall asleep! I can't… I ca-...

* * *

Everything was in a haze, but I could distinctly feel myself dropping in a horrible way, and then crashing. When I opened my eyes, the haze didn't lift, so I shut them again. I was in pain, and something was crushing me. I really, really should have wanted to know what it was, but for some reason I couldn't care. I just kind of laid there, full of confusion and apathy and ache. I wanted to go to sleep, but there was something inside of me that was wailing that I have to suck it up, that I need to figure this out, and lucky for it it was loud, _very loud_. I groaned, and tried to move my limbs as best I could. I found that my best wasn't all that great, and that I'm no doubt stuck here forever.

But then something changed, I felt like I was in an elevator- that something was pulling me up, but not by my body; it was a horrible feeling, I hate elevators. Am I...Am I stuck in an elevator? Oh God, I better be wrong. I was then thrown back a bit, as the whole…(elevator?)_thing_ fell onto its side. It wasn't a fun thing to experience, but at least that other thing was off my back now. I let out a long breath, I hadn't realized how hard to was to breathe. My back felt bad, which was probably understandable, but it was still bad enough for me to not understand it anyway. I hadn't realized I was still moving, but I noticed when I finally stopped.

I heard sounds; an engine running, and someone cheering, and doors slamming shut. I couldn't bring myself to open my eyes, I wanted to, and I tried to, but it didn't seem to be worth it. I'd probably see nothing again, maybe I've gone blind or something. Air hit me, cold and harsh, and hands grabbed onto me. they drug me out into the stupid air, and I got to feel like dead weight in their arms. I heard a string of curse words, but they were pretty far away. I heard someone speaking way too quickly. I started to fall asleep.

Something shook me hard and woke me up. I groaned at them, and they hit my face in reply; albeit they did it very lightly, but it still pissed me off. I opened my eyes just to glare, and I was greeted by more pain. Holy crap, Why was it so bright?! What Happened?

Someone was talking over me, saying something along the lines of "Oh thank God, she's responsive." Their voice was deep, they had a weird accent. Another voice, even closer, chimed in "Hey, Miss, can you hear me?" He was probably talking to me. I didn't want to answer, but he sounded so worried...

"Ugh, wh-what…?" Why was my voice so scratchy? "what do you want?"

"Ok. Alright good. There's nothing to worry about now, we got you out in time." I felt someone pulling me to my feet, and wrapping my arm around their shoulder. This, for some reason, this also pissed me off. I opened my eyes again, and it didn't do much good. Things focused and unfocused, I could barely make out colors let alone shapes. Maybe I really am going blind. I don't want to go blind. I _can't_ be going blind. A new push of adrenalin went through me, because apparently my body was sure I could fight blindness with willpower, and I took my arm away from whoever was holding me up. I walked a few steps, and suddenly I was on the ground.

"Woah! Woah, take it easy." Those same hands helped me up again, this time letting me sit. I wonder what happened to the weird accent voice? He hasn't said anything in a long time. I looked over to the one next to me. He kind of reminded me of gold: He was really...glowy, His hair was probably naturally blonde. That usually looks really lame on men. Is it lame?

"Are you alright?" He asked. I laughed. It might be lame. I don't know. The stress is probably getting to me, I shouldn't be laughing right now. I closed my eyes again: I meant to blink, but I had to be shaken a bit before I opened them again. I was leaning on something now.

"Hey, hey now come on, stay awake for me. Let's try standing again." He said, he sounded so worried. why was he so worried? He pulled me to my feet. He wrapped my arm around his shoulder. He answered something somebody said, I didn't hear them. I think he told them "There's nothing around for miles."

"Don't…" I started, losing my train of thought for a moment.

"What is it?" I kind of just tuned out anything but our dialogue, I didn't want to lose my words again like an idiot.

"Don't be stupid, I can walk."

"Are you sure?"

"..."

"Mi-"

"100% sure"

I felt myself be let go. I slowly opened my eyes, and focused on the ground. I took a few steps, and I was careful about it, because I wasn't going to fall again. Then I realized I didn't know where I was going, so I turned around to ask. The motion was too quick, and it hurt my head, a lot. I was suddenly dizzy. My sight blurred out completely, and I felt my back slam against the ground. It hurt a lot, in fact it was the only thing I could think about for a moment. It felt like how I'd imagine scratching a burn wound would feel like, or maybe being whipped.

and then I fell asleep.


End file.
